KINGSTON, N.Y. >> The developers of the planned Kingston Food Exchange in Uptown are waiting to sign contracts with the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency before work proceeds on the project, a partner in the business said.

“All we’re waiting for right now is to sign the contracts,” Zachary Lewis, a partner in BBG Ventures and 311 Partners LLC, said Thursday. He said that, once the contracts are signed, work can continue to redevelop the former Woolworth store at 311 Wall St. in Uptown. It will take nine months to complete the work once shovels are in the ground, he added.

The Industrial Development Agency last month approved approximately $1.9 million in tax breaks for the project. The agency board’s action covers separate applications by building owner 311 Partners LLC and planned tenant BBG Ventures.

For 311 Partners LLC, a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) deal will excuse the company from paying an estimated $1.4 million in property taxes. The group also received a sales tax waiver of approximately $184,000 for construction-related purchases and a $25,000 mortgage recording tax exemption.

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The group purchased the Wall Street building for $475,000 at a tax auction.

BBG Ventures, which will lease space in the building, will have an estimated $311,780 in sales taxes waived on the purchase of equipment and materials needed for renovation. BBG, though, will have to pay a $91,834.95 fee to the Industrial Development Agency, an amount equal to 1 percent of the estimated $9.18 million cost of the project.

Lewis said it was a “very formal process” to receive approval from the Industrial Development Agency. He said all other state funding is in place for the project, but there is still a little more fundraising to be done, the details of which will be announced later.

The project is just waiting to move forward, according to Lewis.

“And we’re excited about it,” he said.

The Kingston Food Exchange, first proposed in late 2015, is to be a combination food service, preparation and packaging facility.

The project is to feature a fresh foods market, a farm-to-table food hall, a state-of-the-art food and beverage manufacturing facility and a business incubator, BBG has said. It would also have food education and community programs.

“In our opinion, the market is the most important thing,” Lewis said. He said it is the developer’s priority to get up and running.

As for the exterior of the building, Lewis said the pinkish-colored granite on the façade of the building will remain. He said the state Historic Preservation Office ruled the granite must remain untouched, despite requests from the developers to change it.

Woolworth operated in the Wall Street building from 1956 until early 1994. In the years after the store closed, the space was occupied at different times by the party supply store Sav-On and the records management firm Medrex.